This invention relates generally to cleanup of hydrocarbon spills, and more particularly to dispersing of microbes into hydrocarbon pollutant-containing zones to reduce pollutant levels.
Hydrocarbon pollution occurs in many ways, and areas, among which are the following:
1) spillage into the ground as at gasoline service stations (i.e., from rusted tanks, etc.);
2) leakage into the ground, i.e., formation, at or near oil wells; and
3) spillage into the ocean as from oil tanks or oil tankers, and also from bilge pumped into the sea.
Cleanup of such hydrocarbon pollutants is difficult, time consuming and expensive. While microbes have been employed to consume hydrocarbons, it is difficult to deploy the microbes, accurately and in sufficient quantity into pollutant spills.